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If you like fighting, you’ll love giving birth. Like a competition setting, birth is 90% mental, 5% doing what your body knows what to do, and 5% respecting the advice of the people coaching you from the sidelines. As with competition, you’ve got a ‘burn down’ to the big day, during which time you can prepare yourself physically and mentally with regular training and lots of visualisation. To me, the hallmarks of a natural active birthing experience and of competition are strikingly similar:

Physical and mental endurance

Mental toughness and positive self-talk

Internal monologue to keep ‘fighting’

Trust the technique

Trust coaches

The big difference with birth, to my mind, is the length of time you’re ‘fighting’ and the level of sensation; we’re talking hours of active labour, not to mention the preceding contractions to bring you to active labour, not a few matches counted in minutes, all while in a state of increasingly intense discomfort. The long timeline and the pain are not insignificant factors as they require that much more mental toughness, positive self-talk and physical endurance.

BJJ and Natural Birth

As my pregnancy was ‘normal’ and low risk throughout, I opted for a natural active birth at a standalone midwife led unit called the Barkantine Birth Centre; for my American readers, in the UK midwives handle deliveries in and out of hospital – doctors only get involved for interventions such as C-sections. As soon as I learned I was pregnant, I checked out birthchoice.co.uk to investigate the stats for my local hospitals and so discovered that the Barkantine had, by far, the best stats for outcomes and the lowest rates of interventions; as a person all too familiar with operations, I was very keen to avoid interventions where possible in order to maximise my ability to recover post partum. While it can be a little scary to choose a midwife led unit rather than a hospital with consultants on-call for emergencies, I took the decision early on to be led by the evidence rather than my fears. In my case, this worked out better than I could have hoped.

The Barkantine is set up for an active, non-medicalised birth and each birthing room includes a big double bed for the parents, a balcony, an ensuite, a little sofa and tele, as well as a massive birthing pool, birthing ball and birthing stool. The midwives at the Barkantine will work with you to facilitate your natural birth using this equipment and pain relief is available with ‘gas and air’/nitrous oxide and/or opiate injection. For pain relief I progressed from paracetamol, to the birthing pool and finally to gas and air in the pool, but what made the real difference to my ability to cope with the contractions was my training and my physicality.

Five hours after my waters broke and the contractions began, I was headed to the Barkantine and the contractions were coming at regular intervals and geting stronger and longer. At this point, it was all getting a bit scary and I started to get nervous and upset on the journey to the birthing centre, but I had such a long way to go! Time to spool up the old training. While breathing into the contractions I would positive self-talk my way up the incline of the contractions, recognise when I was at the crescendo and keep strong until back at the bottom and waiting for the next one. I used this tactic of a strong internal monologue throughout the process and kept up a steady chant of: ‘You’re a warrior, you can do this, fight – fight – fight, don’t stop, the mind always quits before the body, fight – fight – fight’. With the support of the midwives, my husband and the nitrous (love that stuff!) I was able to fight through the heavy fatigue – man it is tiring! – and cope with the pain and after 3 hours managed to dilate from 4 to 10 cm. While the pushing phase, for me, wasn’t particularly painful (I used no pain relief during this portion of the birth and remember my tattoo being more painful than this part of the labour), it was a real test of endurance. As can often happen for first time mothers, my contractions slowed down and weakened as the labour went on; contractions are necessary for pushing so this resulted in a rather long 2.5 hour pushing phase. This part of the birth was even more tiring than the contractions – between each contraction all I could think was how much I’d like to sleep – and it is the fatigue that chips away at the mental toughness and the capacity to endure. Ultimately, the boy was delivered safely and mommy, daddy and baby went home the next evening to enjoy a blissful 2 weeks of paternity leave together.

Fitness and a Happy Birth

My BJJ training and pregnancy exercise regime directly contributed to my very positive birthing experience. On the one hand, as an amateur athlete (even one that’s been benched with knee rehab and pregnancy for much of the last year) and a martial artist with 14 years of experience under my belts, I’ve regularly experienced pushing my body out of its comfort zone, keeping calm under pressure and getting ‘into the zone’ with what my bod is doing. From pushing myself to run that little bit harder or lift a little bit more when conditioning off the mats, to learning to not be bothered when a 90 kilo dude is crushing me while I make my escape on the mats, as a BJJer I’m pretty familiar with keeping the mind strong so the body can work the technique. On the other hand, as reported in my third trimester round-up, I was working out and ‘pumping iron’ until the day before the birth. Labour is a physically demanding experience and I was on hands and knees for much of the time, either in the pool on on the birthing ball; the good level of fitness I started pregnancy with and the upper body strength I was able to maintain during pregnancy made a big difference to my ability to keep at it; my upper bod was seriously aching the first few days of post-partum recovery!

An active natural birth isn’t for everyone and we’re very lucky in the West to have such fantastic facilities for mothers-to-be; giving birth is no longer the life threatening experience it once was and continues to be for many women. From water births and hypnobirthing to epidurals and C-sections, there’s a wide range of choices to suit the circumstances of each individual pregnancy. For me, I was fortunate enough to be in a position to enjoy an active birth and had access to people and facilities to help make that happen; it isn’t for everyone, and nor should it be, but it was right for this pregnancy and I look back on the experience with a lot of happiness and I am convinced that my commitment to exercise during pregnancy and my years of martial arts, especially BJJ, were integral to making the birth what it was.

I’m six weeks postpartum, now, and recovering well while juggling the baby and work; we’re a very happy if somewhat tired and disheveled new family. Stay tuned for a report on my early postpartum recovery and the plan rehab the abs and get back to the mats!

While I enjoyed a wide range of activity during the second trimester, including BJJ training, the final stage of my pregnancy presented greater challenges to staying active; by the start of the third trimester the bump was becoming extremely unwieldy. During the final phases of the pregnancy I found my mobility went way down as I lost more and more core control. The last 9 weeks also saw me short of breath and by week 31 my exertion levels had to be reduced further from an already modest point. I did hit twice weekly gym sessions and short daily walks pretty consistently during the last weeks. This included weekly personal training which focussed on conditioning. We used bodyweight exercises, work on the suspension trainer and with cable machines; cable machines are great as they require more core activation than conventional weight machines but less than free weights, so a safer alternative in my distended state. We worked upper and lower body which benefited my overall fitness, my preparation for the birth as well as my knee recovery.

While I’d been swimming a lot through pregnancy I stopped this at 30 weeks. Up until this point I’d been able to whack out 30-50 laps of front crawl (with flip turn, cuz I’m bad like that) at a decent clip without feeling run down or out of breath. Suddenly, at 30 weeks, I felt really out of breath during my swim and reduced the intensity and the number of laps. Nevertheless, when I got out of the pool and the warm air hit me I felt very dizzy and nearly fainted. I recovered quickly and felt fine after some cold water, but felt uncomfortable getting back in the pool after this incident so I restricted myself to weights and walking from then on. While my weights sessions alone and with my trainer were at a good level of intensity, my walks were very slow and short as by this stage walking could cause a reasonable amount of pain and discomfort.

My last weights session was on Thursday 16 August as my little boy was delivered safely into the world on Friday 17 August after 37 weeks + 2 days of pregnancy, but more about that in my forthcoming posts on birth and post-partum rehab.

Our Q4 2012 London BJJ Women’s Open Mat will be held on Sunday 18 November 2012 and will be hosted by Rebekka Francis and Anthea McCourtie and the fine folks at Nova Forca. We are pleased to invite women, aged 18 and over, to join our informal session of drilling and sparring. No grappling experience is required and the Open Mat is a great opportunity for seasoned players to train with other women and for women new to BJJ to try out the art in a friendly environment. The Open Mat is free of charge.

As a local resident, the London 2012 Olympics has offered a unique opportunity to see some great sporting action and I was delighted to attend the women’s freestyle wrestling finals last night. We were in the house for the 48kg and 63kg medal matches and ceremonies. The crowd was fantastic, with a particularly strong Japanese contingent filling the 10,000 seat auditorium; Poles, Canadians, Azerbaijanis and Mongolians were also out in force to support their wrestlers with a few Stars and Stripes and Union Jacks thrown in for good measure.

Icho working for the takedown; more than one cringe-worthy moment for the knee warrior that evening!

Alternative grappling disciplines, or more accurately how the competition rules have influenced the development of individual disciplines, can often seem a bit strange through the BJJer’s eyes (I’m sure this cuts both ways!) and while it is odd to watch a player lay stomach-down spread-eagle to base out and prevent being rolled to her back – and thus positively beg for an RNC – the athleticism, intent and technique of the wrestlers was impressive to behold. It was a veritable feast of single leg takedowns with some especially impressive single leg takedown defence from Mongolia’s Battsetseg Soronsonbold, who went on to take the bronze in the 63kg group. Once on the floor, the wrestlers showed great bursts of power and the super nimble 48kg Clarissa Chun of the USA was a fierce ‘scrambler’ and ‘reverser’ on the mats. The women from Japan, however, dominated the event and Obara took gold in the 48kg group while Icho did the same for the 63kg group.

The 63kg Medalists

What was most eye-opening and exciting for me, however, was how different cultures have a totally different appreciation for female wrestlers than in Anglo-American culture. Of course, there are plenty of Anglo-American men and women who appreciate and respect the skills of female grapplers, but the main stream support for female wrestlers, especially by the Japanese was thrilling! Japanese spectators clearly dominated the event and showed a massive amount of support with flags and banners and hats and all the other paraphernalia Olympic supporters bring to events. Three generations of Japanese sat together in the row in front of us and while the whole family chanted in support of their representatives, the teenage boy just about had an aneurism shouting and urging on Obara and Icho; awesome to see so much respect and enthusiasm for women’s wrestling! The Poles, Mongolians, Azerbaijanis and Canadians were no shrinking violets either and included significant sets of loud and proud fans.

While there’s been some questionable discourse and activity around gender and the 2012 Olympics, this year has included the exciting milestone of women representing every country and it was great to see so much heartfelt support for these wrestlers to inject some positivity around gender and sport.

For the last decade, Western medicine has recognised the importance of exercise during pregnancy (where a pregnancy is low risk). While there are some restrictions and caveats, women can enjoy a wide range of activity during pregnancy, working to a level of exertion proportional to their pre-pregnancy activity levels, i.e. very active women will be able to work at a higher level of absolute exertion than less active women, as the more active woman’s perceived level of exertion will be at a higher level of exertion than a less active woman. In either case, it is especially important to keep hydrated and cool during exercise when pregnant. The right gear can make a big difference to staying cool and comfortable when exercising through pregnancy; here’s a round-up of the maternity active wear I discovered/tried/loved/discarded.(1)

The brief I set myself was maternity active wear that used proper sweat-wicking fabrics to keep me cool and dry and fit securely around the bump for comfort and modesty. Trousers and swimsuits were the easiest things to source, while tops were a bit more difficult to come by. See my Pininterest for the maternity sports wear I came to rely on through the 2nd and 3rd trimesters.

Maternity Sports Trousers

Crave Maternity offers a nice line of grown-up maternity active wear and I love their Black Jersey Fitness Pant. These lightweight jersey workout trousers are versatile and I’d recommend one pair for the gym and one for kicking about the house or running errands. The stretchy material is form fitting by not restrictive. The wide fold over panel can be layered over the bump or folded under, as suits you, and between the fitted jersey fabric and the below-bump drawstring, these were pretty much the most securely and comfortably fitting maternity trousers I wore. I felt I got full value for money for £38 as the trousers stood up well to regular washing with little fading and accommodated an expanding bump (the same pair of trousers worked throughout the 2nd and 3rd trimesters).

Maternity Swimwear

Maternity Sports Swimsuit by Next

Swimming is a great activity during pregnancy:

keeps you cool

increases circulation

the belly down position helps the baby get lined up as you get close to the birth

the nature of the activity helps to ensure regular breathing

low-impact cardio workout without the discomfort and danger to ligaments that can come from higher impact options

There’s plenty of maternity swimsuits out there, but a majority are cute little tankinis or other beach-friendly options for ‘babymoons’. While going a size up in Speedo worked for the first half of the pregnancy, there came a point where a maternity sports swimsuit was needed and happily such a thing is available from Next at a very reasonable £24.

Maternity Sports Tops

This was the area I struggled with most. While there are an increasing number of plucky UK entrepreneurs offering maternity sports tops, a majority of them didn’t fit my preferred brief:

long line vest

sweat wicking sports fabric

a ‘maternity version’ of ‘normal’ sports top styling

At the time of writing the available options seemed able to hit one or two of these requirements, but I never did find the whole package. In particular, items could be too short in the body or styled with – to me – cheesy and naff slogans. I just wanted a grown-up woman’s black sports top that could handle all this belly that I got! Here’s a run down of my foray into maternity sports top in the UK:

SportyBump has a small, but well-executed range of subtly styled black and white gear. It fell down for me with the ‘baby doll’ style of the tops; as with my rash guards, I want my maternity sports tops to be very long line, potentially form fitting, and definitely secure under the bump.

Fit N Fabulous Maternity have really great quality tops, and I tried their scoop neck top. Very nice fabric, beautiful styling and a good fit, but it wasn’t very long line and I didn’t feel it had room to grow with me through the 2nd and 3rd trimesters. Their longline racer backs are ticking the quality fabric and long line boxes, but the slogans are not for me. (Note: Fit N Fabulous has great customer service and they offered to special order a plain black racer for me, but as I would not be able to return or exchange if the size didn’t work, I declined).

BadaBump offer a range of maternity sports tops in proper fabrics, but the colourways are restricted to the pink end of the spectrum and the slogan-riffic vest tops weren’t for me.

The Yoga Dress in black from BumpsOnTheMove had promise with its subtle styling, great fabric, loose cut around the bump with wide bottom band to keep in place. However, without a size guide I was unwilling to risk another round of purchase and return.

Finalist Tee by Sweaty Betty

In the end, I used tops from Sweaty Betty throughout my pregnancy. I’ve always founds Sweaty Betty sizing to be quite generous for me, so going up a size to ‘small’ worked for the earlier part of the pregnancy, while a ‘medium’ did the trick for the latter half. In particular the Finalist Tee was particularly well suited to maternity wear. Have been wearing pieces from Sweaty Betty for gym work for over 5 years, and the Finalist Tee keeps to their normal high standard for construction and holds up well to regular wear and washes with no noticeable fading or shrinkage. The loose fit, long line cut and the drawstring at the hem has meant that the top has accommodated my ever increasing bump with comfort and can be worn with confidence that it won’t ride up.

Happy training!

(1) This round-up focuses on UK-based options; suggestions for other options inside and outside the UK are welcomed in the comments!

Claims I’d read during the first trimesterthat the second was much more ‘enjoyable’ turned out to be accurate. Happily, from weeks 15/16 the constant nausea stopped and extreme fatigue subsided.

While I’d been hitting 3 workouts a week during the first 16 weeks, these were very half-hearted sessions and during the second trimester I felt strong and alert enough to up my activity levels; helped in no small part by being an entrepreneur in charge of my time and therefore able to work in exercise in the afternoons as usually too tired in the evenings. Though the weather in Britain has been a wash out this Spring and Summer, there have been many fine days which have been great for cycling and walking the local parks and canal paths.

I did quite a bit more BJJ over the second trimester. In Week 16 I visited my main club Dartford BJJ to catch up with the team and do a little training. While I was able to do many of the drills and worked with a very light guy (59 kilos) with weight only on my upper body, it was pretty uncomfortable – looking forward to getting my A cups back as this whole boob thing is not for me. I also felt less confident about my ability to move and to protect myself from the odd knock as my core control was starting to reduce. I also did several sessions at our Ilford branch from Week 20. This club is a much closer commute (30 minutes rather than 90 door-to-door) so more practical for me at this time, as I don’t have the energy for late night commuting. At these classes, I really enjoyed doing the Gracie self defense drills from standing, most of the drills on the ground as well as some modified ‘sparring’ with Coach Birkett. My foot work and timing are horrific, but not everything is gone, yet… I am definitely getting rusty, but am keeping a positive outlook and an eye on the big picture. My husband is very supportive of me getting back to training and once we get past nursing in the Spring, will be integrating regular classes back into my weekly routine. Sure, the hours I put in will be reduced as I’ll be balancing work, home and new baby, but something is better than nothing and as the babe grows over time I’ll be able to add in more BJJ-time accordingly.

I also started work with a personal trainer from Week 25. Ayla Akin specialises in working with women pre- and post-natal and she loves the weights and functional fitness. While it ain’t cheap, it is an indulgence I’ve really needed and has massively helped my sense of well being since I started regular work with her. Ayla keeps me motivated and works me to a good level but reins me in when I want to go a bit mad and the work we do really helps the knee recovery which has been tough to run in parallel with the pregnancy, so win-win! Working weights and conditioning with her has given me confidence that I’m not as totally unfit as I’d believed and has helped to get a little strength back, mobilise the joints, and stay within optimal weight-gain parameters for preggos. Was inspired to take a leaf out of Rosi Sexton’s book and would strongly recommend investing in work with an ante-natal trainer.

Since beginning this journey have been contacted by other women seeking to balance pregnancy and BJJ/exercise. While I am in no position to advise any woman about her pregnancy and can only share my personal experiences for readers’ interest and point to some research around pregnancy and exercise, there are some general principles I’ve shared when asked:

The health of you and your baby are the most important things right now, being active is part of that, but it is all about being active in the right way

Talk to your medical professionals about your pregnancy and suitability of exercise

Give yourself a break! You’re pregnant, your body is working hard, you’re not going to be able to go on as business as usual; you will have your bod back to yourself in no time, so try to enjoy the experience while it lasts (yeah, I struggle keeping this big picture in front of me, but keep trying)

That’s all I got, except perhaps ‘A head butt is not an appropriate response to others’ complaints of not training for a week or two’ – HA! Look after yourselves and I’ll ‘see’ you in a few weeks with a fat little grub for you to fawn over.

The past three weeks have seen continued improvement since Weeks 31-33, during which time I was able to increase activity levels and use self-massage to effectively eliminate some chronic pain in the knee. Swelling and stiffness remains, though I can now fully bend the knee and sit with knees folded under me without discomfort – big new milestone! Work with a personal trainer is helping my knee and the healthfulness of my pregnancy; we do a lot of conditioning which complements the swimming, cycling, walking and light BJJ.

Sparred for the first time since early January. Let me qualify that. In light of my pregnancy (and rather tremendous bump), Coach and I worked together in a very subdued way. We were ‘sparring’ to the extent that we were not drilling a set of moves and I had to move through positions ‘on the fly’. However, Coach was essentially a body bag that let me crush him one stuttering step at a time, with me working a lot of offence; not the normal scenario of me working hard to defend and escape the crushing on bottom. Haven’t been able to crawl all over Coach and apply a million submissions since my first week training with him nearly 8 years ago – haha! While it was a very different kind of ‘sparring’ to what we would normally do, it was perfect for me right now. I was able to stay within moderate exertion for 30 minutes – keeping breathing and heart rate at acceptable pre-natal levels – while working on recovering a little of my muscle memory (dang my ‘moves’ are rusty but got to focus on the long game) at a very slow but somewhat fluid pace. Coach’s complete lack of resistance and willingness roll into positions for my benefit and to suffer my extra 12 kilos (muahahaha) meant that I could surf around on top and apply movements in a manner that was extra slow and controlled so there was 100% fun with 100% safety. It was marvellous. I’m lucky to have a Coach and training partners so willing to let me beat on them during these injuries, recoveries and pregnancies. Unhappily, I cannot be as reciprocal with my partners as in the past, but it is only temporary and they are troopers for letting me torment them without tormenting me back (payback will come and I look forward to it!).

As far as the knee is concerned, it was pretty awesome not even thinking about it during our ‘roll’. I suppose we were both very bump-conscious instead, but the knee felt really good and only about halfway through did I realise that I wasn’t ‘protecting’ it; it just doesn’t feel loose and ropey like it used to – SWEET!

While I’d re-state that the pregnancy has definitely influenced the speed and trajectory of my personal recovery, I do feel my leg has come a long way and once life’s circumstances allow me to make a return to something more like regular activity levels, I’m sure I’ll be able to train with much better intensity and confidence as far as the leg is concerned. Was it worth it? It is hard to say as there’s still some recovery issues to work through and I haven’t been able to properly road test the refurbished knee. However, since Week 6 of recovery I could feel more stability and less laxity in the joint and that can’t be a bad outcome, especially once my activity levels can increase post-pregnancy and nursing; I yearn to work to exhaustion at least once a week! So, for my personal journey, compounded as it has been by a pregnancy, there’s still a long way to go, but fellow knee-warriors shouldn’t fear the commitment ACL reconstruction and recovery demands; I do believe the outcome of a good op and a cautious and committed recovery pays great dividends in the longer term.

Week

Physio

Milestones

34

Swimming, BJJ and The Stick

First week able to sit with feet tucked under me without discomfort

35

Personal Training and BJJ

Started bi-weekly sessions with personal trainer. ‘Sparred’ for the first time in 20 weeks.

36

Gym, Cycling, Hiking

Outdoor fun during our ‘Babymoon’ in Suffolk

Disclaimer

Every ACL op and recovery will be particular to the person. The thoughts and experiences recalled in this series of posts is in no way intended as medical advice or as a replacement for seeking medical attention for any injury. This information is presented merely as a record of one person’s experience with ACL operation and recovery.

As hoped at the end of Week 30, the last three weeks have seen significant reduction in pain commensurate with a better level of activity and consistent use of The Stick self-massage tool. During Week 31 I used The Stick twice a day for about five minutes at a time. This rapidly reduced the pain and stiffness in the knee, and now I have it next to the sofa and will do a little roll out when watching a show in the evenings. A review of The Stick is forthcoming, but suffice to state that I have found it really useful, and while at £35 it is cheaper than a single sports massage, much less one or more per week, physios may also recommend taping together a couple tennis balls and rolling out your legs on those as a cheaper alternative. In addition to a much better level of casual activity over the last three weeks with commuting to evening classes, client meetings and recreational walks, I’ve enjoyed a more varied exercise diet over the last three weeks including swimming, ‘pregnancy fitness’ class and BJJ. The pregnancy fitness class at the gym is an enjoyable conditioning class that was challenging enough to be fun and got me doing some alternative conditioning things in a motivating environment, so good for leg and baby. I’ve been making an effort to attend our Friday BJJ class at the Ilford Fitness First and am always able to take part in the fist 30 minutes of Gracie self defence drills, which Coach keeps bump-friendly, and a portion of the drills on the floor. I am, of course, choosier about my training partners than pre-pregnancy, and I don’t spar. But it gets me out the house, I get to see some of the team and work on some of my (super ropey) moves and simply be around it, all of which are great for my overall sense of well-being.

Week

Physio

Milestones

31

Gym, BJJ and The Stick

Chronic pain of previous weeks dissipated after a week of Stick usage

32

Gym and BJJ

Felt especially strong in the pool and was able to do 30 laps at steady pace without pause (versus previous 10 laps then 1 minute rest)

33

Gym

Started weekly ‘pregnancy fitness’ class at the gym

Disclaimer

Every ACL op and recovery will be particular to the person. The thoughts and experiences recalled in this series of posts is in no way intended as medical advice or as a replacement for seeking medical attention for any injury. This information is presented merely as a record of one person’s experience with ACL operation and recovery.